Mezzo Alert: Drinks with Connolly
[Photo Credit: Glyndebourne Festival/Mike Hoban]
The 75th anniversary of the world’s classiest opera picnic – the breaks at Glyndebourne – comes with a gift for mezzo lovers that is the doubled presence of Sarah Connolly.
First of all, there was the revival of the 2005 “Giulio Cesare” with Connolly as Caesar – a DVD most of us own by now, but nothing beats the live performance (the last one of this run, was, sadly, this past July 3rd, but it’s another reason to post the photo above). Connolly (Cesare), de Niese (Cleopatra) and Bardon (Cornelia) revisited their initial role portrayals while Sesto was taken on by Stéphanie D’Oustrac.The run may be over, but there’s still the podcast for this 2009 revival (interview with Connolly, among others) available for download.
And there still is Connolly at Glyndebourne to check out live this year. Avis alerted me to a cast change in the revival of the 2003 “Tristan & Isolde”. Kristine Jepson, mezzo of considerable Octavian fame, has canceled her Brangäne gigs for this summer – not just at Glyndebourne, but also at the recent Deutsche Oper Berlin “Tristan” (Friedrich 1980) revival. Both runs are still listed on her website, although it seems that Jepson is not singing Brangäne this summer (the November revival in Berlin may also have to do without her).
In Berlin, Jepson’s unfortunate cancellation gave me the unexpected pleasure of Daniela Sindram (of Munich Composer fame) as Brangäne. In Glyndebourne, Sarah Connolly is taking over Brangäne for almost the entire run with the exception of August 14th, so you have a chance to listen to another trouser-role champion in dramatic skirts. Personally, I love a more lyrical take on “Habet acht” ever since Christa Ludwig recorded it under Kleiber and I’m fast developing a fondness for trouser role mezzos with a darker tint in the role (apart from the whole fact that I find Brangäne more interesting with a possibly butch touch than as a the proved and tried matron figure, although matronliness and butchness are not exactly mutually exclusive – just think of Mamma Morton).
Dates for Tristan at Glyndebourne are 6th, 10th, 14th (without Connolly; Katarina Karnéus from the original 2003 cast will sing instead), 18th, 22nd, 26th and 30th of August. Vladimir Jurowski as a Glyndebourne first conducts the Lehnhoff staging. Anja Kampe and Torsten Kerl star as Isolde and Tristan. But while the star-crossed lovers pattern may appeal to gay audiences just as to straight ones, there’s that special breathless moment of the lone mezzo in the night singing “Habet acht”…
“although matronliness and butchness are not exactly mutually exclusive”
ROFL….
Once again Anik hits the nail on the head
I’ve seen some of the rehearsals and Connolly is neither butch or matronly and her Habet Acht is very much in the Ludwig vein. See concert reviews at the RFH last december.
Symphony Hall Birmingham/Royal Festival Hall
LPO/Jurowski – Wagner: Tristan und Isolde – December 2008
Sarah Connolly was an ideal Brangäne, making every phrase tell, and showing that Wagner really does write ‘endless melody’.
Michael Tanner, The Spectator, 29 December 2008
Connolly’s watchful soliloquy from the organ loft was ravishing.
Anna Picard, The Independent on Sunday, 21 December 2008
The wonderful Sarah Connolly seems to ripen vocally with every appearance and her anxious Brangäne was ennobled by a lofty sense of resignation, her unheeded warnings from the tower sounding like siren songs from the next world.
Edward Seckerson, The Independent, 15 December 2008
Sarah Connolly won a deserved ovation, embracing the vocal demands of this role with voice to spare.
Richard Fairman, Financial Times, 15 December 2008
Sarah Connolly’s heartfelt and dignified Brangäne…
Hilary Finch, The Times, 15 December 2008
@LaMagnifica: thanks for the reviews and for confirming my Ludwig hunch!
I didn’t mean to imply that Connolly’s portrayal would likely be butch or matronly (or both), although I am sure she could act both, and many other aspects, too, if she wanted to.
Connolly as Brangäne interests me for the same reason that I enjoyed about Sindram in Berlin last month, or Ludwig on the Kleiber recording: they are lyrics at heart and sing Wagner coming in form a none-Wagner-mezzo perspective, less on the drama and more on the melos.
I’m keeping my eyes open regarding soundbytes on YT… it’s got to be awesome.
All the reviews of Sarah Connolly as Brangäne have been very positive. This is from MusicalCriticism.com
“Her assumption of the role was everything a thrilling Brangaene should possess: great reserves of power, nobility of bearing and long-breathed melodic lines, and fabulous musicality in everything she attempted (including some soft legato singing where other Brangaenes I have heard tend to harden their register). Her voice placement was rock solid and utterly secure – this was a performance to savour. Her diction and articulation, and this was a feature of all the principals, was clear and precise, with great stress being applied to final consonants. In short, a five star Brangaene that I am sure she will go on to sing many times.”
Catch it if you can …